Railway-tie.



No. 684,'335. Patented Oct. 8, IQOL W. M. WOODWORTH.

BAILWAY TIE.

(Applictinn mod. Jn. 5. 1901.

(Ilo lode.)

u I 1 I u 'f 7////////////////////////////////////W/////` f UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFIC XVILLIAM M. WOOD\VORTH, OF SYCAMORE, INDIANA.

RAI LWAY-TI E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 684335, dated October8, 1901.

Application filed January 5, 1901. Serial No. 42,161. (No model.)

To al& whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM M. WOOD- WORTH, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Sycamore, in the County of Howard and State ofIndiana, have invented a new and useful Railway-Tie, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The present invention relates to railwayties, and more particularly tothe means for preventing the spreading of the rails and the consequentaccidents and loss of life.

The object of the invention is to provide simple means for independentlyfastening each rail against outward lateral movement and to have thesemeans adjustable, so that they may be quickly applied and adjusted undervarying conditions,

To the accomplishment of this object the Construction described in thefollowing specification and shown in the accompanying drawings ispreferred, but may be changed and modified within the scope of theappended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of a portion of arailway, showing the improved rail-holders applied thereto. Fig. 2 is atop plan View of the same. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section.

Similar numerals of reference desi gnate cor responding parts in theseveral figures of the d'awings.

In the Construction shown the tie comprises a body or sleeper 10, to theends of which are Secured bearing-blocks 11 by means of suitable olamps12. The rails (designated 13) are seated upon these bearing-blocks 11and are fastened thereto in any suitable manner.

To prevent the outward lateral movement of the rails, a pair ofindependent keepers are Secured to the sleeper 10 and engage said rails.These keepers are in the form of retaining-arms 14, the outer endportions of which are bent to rest upon the faces of the bearing blocksll and are provided with up standing terminal hooks 15, that conform toand bear against the outer face of the rail and the base-flange thereof.These retaining-arms are independently and adjustably Secured to thecentral portion of the sleeper 10, preferably in the following manner:The central portion of the sleeper is serrated to form transverse teeth16 and is furthermore provided with a pair of bolt openings 17. Theinner ends of the retaining-arms 14 are also serrated to form transverseteeth 18, which correspond to 'and interlock With the teeth 16 of thesleeper. Said inner ends of the arms 14: are furthermore provided withslots 19. Fastening-bolts 20 are passed through the respective slots 19and openings 17 and hold the coacting teeth in engagement with eachother. The heads of the fastening-bolts 20 are preferably in the form ofhooks 21, which are arranged to be passed through the sleeper from theupper side and when in place have their terminal offstanding portionsarranged against the under side of the sleeper, upon the opposite sidesof the bolt-openings from the retaining-arms. A distinct advantageresides in this Construction and arrangement, as the head of the boltcan thus be passed through from the upper side of the sleeper, and anypull upon the retaining-arm will only draw the head into closerengagement with the under side of the same.

The retaining-arms are preferably made of some strong spring metal, assteel, and are preferably bowed slightly to permit a slight expansionand contraction for the purposes hereinafter explained.

'The application of the device is substantially as follows: The hookedends of the re taining-arms are arranged against the outer face of therails, and the arms passing under the same are adjusted to the properposition and secured by means of the bolts; These bolts can be passedthrough from the upper face of the sleeper, and thus may be removed orreplaced Without the necessity of taking up said sleeper. It will thusbe seen that the inner ends are rigidly seoured and cannot slip, becauseof the interlocking teeth. At the same time it is desirable upon curvesto allow a slight lateral movement of the rails, and a limited movementis permitted by construoting the retaining-arms of spring metal andhaving them bowed slightly. The separate mounting of the retaining-armspermits of their movement independently of one another.

From the foregoing it is thought that the Construction, operation, andmany advan tages of the heroin-described invention will be apparent tothose skilled in the art without IOO further description, and it will beunderstood that various changes in the size, shape, pro portion, andminor details of Construction may be resorted to without departing fromthe spirit or sacrificin g any of the advantages of the invention. p

i Having thus described my in vntiomfiwhat I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is- V 1. In a railway-tie, the combinaton witha sleeper having a plurality of transverse teeth disposed between therails of a pair of keepers provided with teeth which coact with theteeth of the sleeper, said keepers extending beneath and havingupstanding portions engaging the outer faces of the rails.

2. In a railway-tie, the combination with a sleeper having a pluralityof transverse teeth disposed between the rails, said sleeper being alsoprovided with bolt-openings arranged in the plane of the teeth, of apair of keepers, each of which is arranged longitudinally of the sleeperand passes beneath the rail, said keepers each being provided at itsinner end with teeth that eoact with the teeth of the sleeper, and atthe other end with a terminal hook which conforns to and bears againstthe outer face of one of the rails, said keepers being also providedwith slots alining with the bolt-openings ot the sleeper, and bitpassing through said alined openings.

3. In a railway-tie, the combination with a 2 sleeper, of bowedretaining-armssecured at one end to the sleeper between the rails, and*contiguous to its ends, said sleeper being pro-V i Vided with transverseteeth and bolt-openings arranged between the bearing-blocks, of a pairof bowed 'etaining-arms provided at; their inner ends with teeth andslots, said j; teeth interlocking with the teeth of the sleeper, theouter ends of said retaining-arms restin g upon the bearing-blocks andprovided with hook terminal portions conforming and being adapted torest against the outer faces i of the rail, and bolts passin through iopenings n the sleeper and th'e'slots of thej retaining-arns.

In testimony that I'claim the foregoing as i my own I have heretoaffixed my signaturein V i the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM M. WOODWORTH.

Witnesses: i

H. C. APPLEGATE, J. H. HENLEY.-

